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Old injury doesn't keep Christian Academy's Matthew Andres from getting back in goal

For the third straight year, Christian Academy’s boys soccer team heads to the Seventh Region tournament, and this year’s run has been supported partially by 23 screws and two metal plates.

That’s the hardware that currently holds together the humerus of senior Matthew Andres’ right arm. He shattered that bone playing goalie in an indoor soccer game two years ago and thought he had put up his keeper gloves for good. However, when teammate Hayden Paas went down with a shoulder injury, the senior stepped back into his old position.

“I enjoy field, and I like it better,” said Andres, who grew up playing keeper. “But at the end of the day, I got to do what’s best for the team.”

As keeper, Andres has helped the Centurions, the No. 25 team in Kentucky’s Maher Rankings, to five straight wins. None was bigger, though, than Wednesday’s 3-2 victory over No. 20 Kentucky Country Day in the 28th District semifinal at CAL. He made several key saves, including a sliding stop in the first half to prevent a goal off a cross into the goalie box and another off a corner kick with less than five minutes remaining in the game.

When Paas went down, CAL coach Toby Wilcox first got Andres’ parents approval before moving forward. Wilcox said he’s been impressed by the way the senior has stepped up to the challenge.

“Matt is great young man, and he also tends to always be focused, always be intense,” Wilcox said. “He’s also a very bright kid, so he reads the game very well and gets halfway there before the shot’s even taken.”

When Andres broke his arm, he broke the humerus in half and split the lower half of the bone down the middle. After getting cleared to resume soccer, Andres switched to playing in the field, largely due to a nerve issue that kept him from having any feeling in his right hand after the surgery. He’d need a second surgery a year later to relocate to ulnar nerve and restore feeling.

Still, despite the hand issues, he became a productive defender for the Centurions. He scored a goal and registered eight assists for last year’s team, which reached the regional semifinals for the first time since 2012. And before going back to keeper, he notched two goals and five assists this season.

“He’s one of the hardest working kids I’ve ever met,” senior forward Noah Wilcox said. “He is very not selfish. He does whatever the team needs him to be. He’d throw himself into harm’s way just to help the team.”

Even with a long scar running up his arm to remind him of the injury, Andres said he’s not worried about hurting himself again.

“I’m doing whatever has to be done,” he said. “If I get injured, I get injured. I’m going to go all out and do whatever’s required of me. I’m not worried about my body. I’ll go all out for every tackle. I’ll fight for everything.”

Once again, the Seventh Region tournament will serve as one of the toughest brackets in the state, with Trinity, St. Xavier, Collegiate and Ballard all in the Maher top 10 and vying for the region’s lone spot in the state tournament. After making the semis last season, the Centurions believe they have a chance to duplicate or perhaps even better that feat this year.

If CAL makes it back to the semis, the Centurions get to play again on their home field.

There’s also a chance that Paas’ shoulder injury could heal in time for him to return to the lineup next week. Wherever Andres ends up playing, he knows what he and his teammates have to do.

“I don’t necessarily think that we have an insanely skilled team, but I don’t think that matters,” he said. “I think if we come into (regional games), we fight for every single ball, and we work our butts off. We work harder than them and every single ball, we’ll win that game.”